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Rep. Huizenga: State Department 'Hijacked' Truth on Benghazi
Washington,
May 10, 2013
Rep. Huizenga: State Department 'Hijacked' Truth on Benghazi
Newsmax - David Yonkman - May 10, 2013 The State Department hijacked the truth for political purposes by scrubbing the talking points for mentions of terror ties to extremists to the Benghazi attacks, Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga tells Newsmax. "The fact that they are trying to pull the truth out of these things while the families — not to mention the American people — are looking for answers is ridiculous," the sophomore Michigan congressman says. "The truth just ought to be out as the truth, not the State Department hijacking this for political purposes," he said. Emails between administration officials show that the talking points were edited extensively to remove references to al-Qaida and terrorism, ABC News reports. The network says that there were 12 different versions of the talking points first written by the CIA and later distributed to Congress and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who appeared on five Sunday morning talk shows days after the attack, which took place on Sept. 11, 2012. In particular, reports ABC, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland objected to a paragraph drafted by the CIA in earlier versions of the talking points that read, "The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qaeda in Benghazi and eastern Libya. These noted that, since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy." In an email to the White House and intelligence agencies, Nuland said the information "could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned . . . " The State Department removed the paragraph, according to ABC, a move Huizenga called "outrageous." "My recollection is that at the time there were military leaders and leaders in different agencies who were casting doubt on this whole notion of this being a spontaneous response to protests and characterizing it as a terrorist attack," Huizanga said. "Pretty clearly the State Department wanted that out for political reasons," he continued. "Can you imagine being a State Department contractor, you just watched your buddies getting killed, and knowing that the State Department is obfuscating the truth?" |